360 Degree Images Taken With the Ricoh Theta Might Just Wrinkle Your Brain

Have you ever spent an afternoon staring at the sky and quietly contemplating what it would be like if you could see in 360 degrees simultaneously? Like, really thinking about it?

If so, we know what you’ve been doing. We know.

The Theta, a new 360-degree camera from Ricoh, will get you as close to that strange dream as it’s possible to be without growing several extra eyes and/or evolving into a being made of pure energy. It uses two cameras – one on either side of the device – to take spherical, 360-degree photos.

The results are, as the youth say, mad trippy.

So far, Ricoh has published a few sample images on Theta360.com that can be moved through and explored using a set of navigation buttons. Most are nifty but fairly standard – though one in particular stood out to me.